The Farber Method

The people I work for finally decided to work on getting Cooper to sleep on his own, thank God. He was always so miserable when he got tired and he would scream no matter what anyone did. You could hold him, rock him, walk with him, or put him down and he would scream the same no matter what. He's also been waking up twice at night and he's 5 months old! That's craziness.

Basics of the Farber method: When the baby is tired and ready to sleep, lay him down in his crib and let him cry. You can come back in after 5 min, then 7, then 10, and so on, but NEVER pick them up. (you could pick him up if he threw-up, but not for anything less) Sometimes going in just pisses them off even more, but depending on the kid, it's also good for them to be re-assured that they are being heard.

It may sound cruel, but learning to sleep at a young age is SO important and it can set them up for years. And it is never as bad as parents think it's going to be. It took my niece Grace 20 min. the first night and she does great now. It took Cooper about 45 min. the first night but since then it's less than 20. And I could see a huge difference today. He was less fussy than normal because he has learned to calm himself. He didn't cry at all when going down for either nap, when usually we struggle for 20 - 40 min. It's easier on everyone this way and he's actually happier.

I know of 1 way to avoid all of the crying of teaching a baby to sleep on its own... start from the day you get home from the hospital. Put the kid down when he's sleepy but awake and let him fall asleep on his own. If you do that consistently from the beginning, you avoid all the tears in the long run. I'll let you know how that actually works.

Jonathan is working on the video. We had to get another cable, but it should be ready soon.

Did you see the new thing on the right side over there that shows what the baby looks like?

Cooper is 5 months tomorrow so I'm taking my camera with me, stay tuned for pictures.